Closure for dry gasometers



Patented Dec. 8, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

i KONRAD JAGSCHITZ. F MAINZ, GERMANY.-ASSIGNOR TO MACHINENFABRIK AUGS- BURG-NRNBERG, A. G., 0F NRNBERG, GERMANY, A CORPORATION OF GERMANY.

CLOSURE FOR DRY GASOMETERVS.

Application led September 24, 1924. Serial No. 739,537.

To all whom z't may concern.'

Be it known that 'I, KONRAD JAGSCHITZ, a citizen of Germany, residing at Mainz, Germany, have invented certain new and useful l Improvements l'in Closures for Dry Gasometers, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates to storage reservoirs for gas and the like and more particularly to l0 waterless gas holderscommonly' referred to as dry gasometers or gas holdersand enerally comprising a single 'tank which 1s upwardly open and is sealed by .mean's of a 'Heating sealing-disc or closure arranged to rise and fall in said tank in accordance with changes in the gas contents thereof. In gas holders of the indicated class, it lisnecessary to guide the sealing-disc or closure in its movements in the tank, this result generally having been attained by means of suitable truss-workconnected with the closure and carrying guide-rollers which travel along the inner surface of the tank or along special shell posts provided therein. In holders particularly of large diameter, which require a correspondingly large sealing disc, the arrangement of .the truss-work results in an unstable equilibrium of the floating clo.- sure mass.

The object of the present inventionis' to provide an improved and novel arrangement of closure in which the centre of buoyancy is located above the centre of gravity and the sealing-disc is not only properly guided and 85 maintained in the desired horizontal osition, but further a stablev equilibrium o the floating closure mass is obtained.

rIhe invention will be full described hereinafter and the features of novelty willbe t@ pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which show an example of an existing arrangement and several exam les of the invention without dening its llmits, Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic, fragmentary sectional elevation showing an existing construction of sealing-discs for dry gasometers and Figs. 2 and 3 are similar views illustrating two arrangements of the novel construction.

As shown in Fig. l, the tank which generally speaking is in the form of an upright, upwardly open shell, is indicated at g, it being understood that a gas inlet and a gas outlet g2 are connected with said tank in the customary manner as, for instance, indicated in Fig. 1. The closure comprises a sealing-disc k of any conventional construction and which is provided at its periphery with a liquid scalo of any usual form adapted to partake of the rising and falling movements of Said disc Ic and to maintain a gastight closure between the same and the shell g. For guiding the closing-disc lo in .its vertical movements, rollers m are journalled at spaced intervals upon a truss-work n which projects upwardly from the disc hand in thev essary to brace the same in order that such stresses may be adequately resisted. As shown in Fig. 2, the disc 47c is accordingly provided with stiifening-trusses h located below and depending from-said disc, it being understood that the trusses h are secured to said disc in any convenient way.'

The construction shown in Fig. 3 differs from that of Fig. 2 by having the liquidseal o located at a greater distance below the disc le than is the liquid-seal o of Fig. 2; with the arrangement lllustrated in Fig. 3, the truss-work n', which corresponds to the truss-work a of Fig. 2, projects to a lesser extent above the disc 7c and is thus kept low with respect to said disc. It will be noted that, even though the distance 7J between the centres of the guide rollers m in each of the two forms is the same, the height s of the closure in Fig. 3 is less than the height 1" ofthe closure shown in Fig. 2. The stability of structure shown in Fig". 3 is thus even greater than that of the vform shown in Fig. 2. To complete the closure of Fig. 3 between the disc 7c and the liquidl seal o' a vertical, cylindrical shell e' is connected with the stiiening stresses h. The

latter correspond to the 'trusses 7al of 2 and are likewise located below and depend from the sealing-disc 7c to which they are fastened in any suitable manner.

IVith thenovel arrangement of stifieningtrusses shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the centre of gravity 1I of the entire closure is located below the discs 7c or 7c and conse uently is below the centre of buoyancy o the closure which is indicated at Z. The closure is therefore in stable equilibrium and will accordingly always possess the inherent property of remaining in a horizontal position while ascending and descending in the shell g. The guide rollers mand m as a result are relieved of considerable strainsv and forces and the ascent and descent of the closure is accomplished with a minimum of friction and with the sealing disc k or c always in a horizontal position of maximum efficiency.

-To clearly show the advantages of the vpresent novel arrangement over anexisting construction, reference is made to Fig. 1 of the drawings in which the sti'ening trusses b are located upon and above the sealingdisc a, guide rollers f being mounted upon truss-work e which forms part of the trusses Z) and are likewise located above the disc a. With the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 1, the center of gravity o of the closure is located above the center of buoyancy d and the closure is therefore in unstable equilibrium, which is resisted by the rollers f and consequently places the 'same under considerablestrain and forces said rollers into heavy frictional engagement with the shellposts or equivalent guiding means along which said rollers are. arrangedl to travel.

The resent novel construction overcomes these o jectionable features in an oiicient manner and provides a closure of maximum serviceability. y

Various changes inthe specific forms movements in said tank and bracing means for stiffening said closure combined therewith ina manner to locate the center of gravity of said closure below the center of buoyancy thereof.

2. In a dry gasometer, the combination of a tank, a floating closure for sealing said tank and adapted to rise and fall therein,

said closure comprising a sealing-disc, a seal at the periphery of said disc, guiderollers mounted upon said disc for guiding the same in its vertical movements and stifening trusses located below and. depending from said `disc and arranged so as to locate the center of gravity of said closure lbelow the center of buoyancy thereof.

3. In a dry gasometer, the combination of a tank, a floating closure for sea-ling said tank and adapted to rise and fall therein, said closure comprising a sealing-disc, guide-rollers mounted upon said disc for guiding the same in its vertical movements, stiifening trusses located below and depending from said disc and arranged so as to locate the center of gravity of said closure below the center of buoyancy thereof, an an nular liquid seal carried by said closure and located approximately at the level of the lower chord of the stiiening trusses and a cylindrical shell surrounding said stiii'ening trusses between said disc and saidl seal.

In testimonyA whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

KONRAD J AGSCI-IITZ. 

